The story I choose from the anthology was from part 1, chapter five: William G. Farrow. Although a very short story, I found it to be very powerful. I read it, several times, along with the related \u201cThanatopsis\u201d poem by William Cullen Bryant. I identified some clear leadership lessons but to first provide some context, William G. Farrow was an American Lieutenant, captured during World War II and was about to be executed by the Japanese. The story focuses on the last lines that he wrote in his final letter to his mother. <\/p>\n
The first leadership lesson that struck me was the courage that he showed in those last lines. Despite facing death, he wrote \u201cMy faith in God is complete, so I am unafraid\u201d (Watson, 1951,p. 50). I can only imagine how scared William G. Farrow was in that situation, knowing he was going to die with a full life still ahead of him, but he did not let it show in his writing. Instead, he chose to ease the concerns of his mother, which is the second lesson that stood out, one of compassion. William G. Farrow starts his last lines with \u201cDon\u2019t let this get you down\u201d (Watson, 1951,p. 50), which I find so very powerful. Here he is, about to be executed and he is concerned with his mother\u2019s feelings. The last leadership lesson that stands out is William G. Farrow\u2019s conviction, or specifically his faith. \u201cJust remember God will make everything right\u2026\u201d (Watson, 1951,p. 50). All three examples of leadership are magnified because of the desperate situation, and it was interesting to read how they had such a profound impact on so many people once they were published around the United States. <\/p>\n
The impact this story has to my practice of leadership, is recognizing the need to be a strong, caring leader in the worst situations. I mean, I should be like that all the time, that goes without saying, but this story is a reminder that true leadership is shown when times are at their worst. I deal with charged, end of life situations and at times, families have a very hard time accepting that. This story just serves as a reminder of the power of the human spirit and the lasting effects that small words or actions can have. <\/p>\n
Reference<\/p>\n
Watson, L. E. (1951). Light from Many Lamps.\u00a0 New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, Inc.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The story I choose from the anthology was from part 1, chapter five: William G. Farrow. Although a very short story, I found it to be very powerful. I read it, several times, along with the related \u201cThanatopsis\u201d poem by… Continue Reading →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":293,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,36],"tags":[38],"class_list":["post-322","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ldrs500","category-unit-2","tag-light-from-many-lamps"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/daneen85\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/daneen85\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/daneen85\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/daneen85\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/293"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/daneen85\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=322"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/daneen85\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":325,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/daneen85\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322\/revisions\/325"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/daneen85\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/daneen85\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/daneen85\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}